


Six Steps To You

by cafeaulaitzu



Category: ITZY (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:47:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26611687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafeaulaitzu/pseuds/cafeaulaitzu
Summary: There are six things that Ryujin loves. And it takes six steps for Ryujin to confess to Yuna.
Relationships: Choi Jisu | Lia/Hwang Yeji, Shin Ryujin/Shin Yuna
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	1. One - Winter

**Author's Note:**

> One - Winter
> 
> Two - Night
> 
> Three - Star
> 
> Four - Snow
> 
> Five - Moon
> 
> Six - Christmas
> 
> A/N: Hello! This is my first ITZY fanfic (or second), but it's my first on writing 2shin/ryuna. Since there's too little ryuna fanfics out there I'm making one myself and for those who ships these two! I hope that I portrayed Ryujin's feelings well and hope that it meets your likings. Don't forget to leave some comments and upvote if you like this fanfic! :) I would love to see your comments so that I can improve myself in writing :)
> 
> This was posted on AFF last year and I wanted to also post it on ao3 here so please enjoy reading it again if you've read it before!

Of summer, spring, autumn and winter, Ryujin loves winter.

Not because that there's cold wind that freezes her nose and cheeks; not because of the trees are leafless; not because of the streets that are silent and empty because it's too cold to be outside.

But the crimson-red-haired girl who's walking beside her may be the reason behind it.

Don't get her wrong - Shin Yuna is the brightest sun you could ever met, and Ryujin has never doubt it. Whenever Yuna smiles - everyone smiles. She's literally the sun.

If not because of winter, Ryujin might not be able to walk on the streets with Yuna, and her alone. Since there's less people on the street, it makes it easier for them to shop without being noticed.

They're idols - they attract attention wherever they go, and this sacrifices their private time to be alone on the streets, either buying some groceries, foods, clothes, or walking aimlessly just because they feel like it.

Ryujin vaguely remembers Yeji who once said during a fan meeting, that she loves to spend her own leisure time by walking on the streets, wearing earphones that sends music into her ears - whether pop songs or love songs - it's a good way to relax. 

Ryujin can definitely relate to her. 

Ryujin glanced at Yuna, who carries another bag of groceries where they had just bought from a nearby supermarket, which is only a fifteen minutes walk from their dorm.

Yuna is currently breathing out white breath vapor, her cheeks tinted with slight red due to the cold wind, her shoulders tense as she walks. They had forgot about their gloves when they were halfway to the grocer, however, both had decided to leave it since it was only the start of the winter.

Maybe she should have went back to the dorm and get their gloves. Ryujin thought as Yuna rubs her palms together for friction and heat to warm her hands.

Ryujin has the urge to hold Yuna's hands, using her own warmth to warm her up. Her small (huge) crush on the maknae of ITZY is a secret to herself, which none of the other members know about it.

She doesn't plan to confess to Yuna, and neither does she wants to scare Yuna because of this.

If being best friends is the furthest they can go, Ryujin is willing to stay on the same spot, same relationship - being one of the best friends of Yuna.

Ryujin puts her empty right hand into her pocket, in attempt to search for her forgotten hot pack every time she went back to the dorm after those hectic dance practices. She never really remember to take out the hot packs since she thought that she's using it every time she goes out, so why take it out?

There it is. 

Ryujin smiles a little, squeezing the hot pack that it becomes warm enough for Yuna.

"Yuna-yah," Ryujin calls out softly, noticing her own breath becomes visible, white vapor as she speaks.

Yuna turns her head to look at Ryujin, her eyes full of confusion. "Yes, Ryujin-unnie?"

"Give me your pack of groceries. And take this," Ryujin easily reaches out her hand to grab the plastic bags full of groceries that Yuna was holding, then gives Yuna the only hot pack she has at the moment. "You're cold, right?"

"Aren't you cold too, unnie?" Yuna asks, her palms squeezing the hot pack in between, getting some warmth from it.

"I'm fine," Ryujin simply replies, and smiles to convince Yuna that she's really fine, that she doesn't need the hot pack that she just gave to her.

Yuna looks a little unconvinced, though, "Unnie—"

"Shush, I'm shorter so my surface area to volume ratio is lower than yours, my heat doesn't loss as fast as yours," Ryujin jokes.

Yuna's mouth becomes the shape of the alphabet 'O', "Ryujin unnie, did you just make a joke on your height?"

Ryujin laughs, "Maybe."

Yuna giggles, and both their breath vapor mix together as they laugh.

They continue to walk right after, chatting and laughing amiably along the road.

And suddenly Ryujin feels a gentle force that takes the groceries on her right hand away, then replaced by a warm feeling, with the fingers intertwining with hers. 

"Yuna?" Ryujin inquires, her palm fills with warmth from the hot pack in between hers and Yuna's palms, her back of the hand being laid with Yuna's cold fingertips, her fingers easily slides into the space between Yuna's fingers.

"I thought you would need some warmth aside from me enjoying the hot pack by myself," Yuna smiles, holding Ryujin's hand tighter.

Ryujin looks away, her cheeks are getting warmer as she's holding hand with Yuna. "That wasn't really necessary." Lucky for her, the blush on her cheek can easily be explained by the cold wind that constantly blows towards them.

Yuna hums, "Fine by you. I just feel like it."

Ryujin's heart went for a hard contract, then relaxes, and she feels her little love growing stronger for the younger, red-headed girl.

"You want some hot chocolate? My treat," Ryujin asks casually, trying hard to calm herself down from their intertwined fingers.

"Yeah, and I want some—"

"—marshmallows. Gotcha," Ryujin winks, smiling with her whisker dimples showing.

Yuna smiles, "You really know me well, unnie."

Ryujin hums, entering the cafe on the way back to their dorm, ordering for two hot chocolates. Their hands, however, have separated as they enter the cafe, to prevent any unnecessary stares.

As soon as they get their order, with luck, no one noticed them, they went out to the streets again. One hand carrying the groceries they bought, and the other holding their cup of hot chocolate. There's no chance for them to hold hands anymore, but the maknae just has her own way into Ryujin's heart.

Yuna walks on the left side of Ryujin, her right hand with groceries, her left with hot chocolate. Her right hand grabs the hot pack and finds its ways to Ryujin's left hand that carries the groceries, easily holding her hand again.

Ryujin glances at Yuna, and Yuna is walking straight with her eyes focusing on the path in front of them.

"Why do you like marshmallows in your hot chocolate?"

Ryujin decides to start a conversation with a question that troubles her since she knew Yuna from her trainee days in JYPE.

"Don't you feel like your heart melts when the marshmallow melts in your mouth, with hot chocolate that warms you up? That's the best for winter."

Yuna gives Ryujin her iconic sunny smile while answering.

"Yeah, maybe," Ryujin mumbles, her heart skipping a beat as she sees the flashing smile of Yuna's.

Maybe, Yuna's smile is perfect for winter.

And maybe, that's why Ryujin loves winter.


	2. Two – Night

Of day and night, Ryujin loves the night.

It's because that's the only time she can have silence to herself; it's because she can write her diary unnoticed; it's because she can watch movies on the sofa in the living room, without disturbing the others.

Tonight, Ryujin feels the need and urge to write a diary entry, and so she does. It's nothing special, just writing down her usual routine and some feelings for Yuna.

Her diary entry is simple, and it's not like she has the reason to exaggerate with words when the only person who reads it is only her herself.

She'd already used more than half of her diary, and it's half a month till the next year. Maybe she should find some time to buy a new diary some day when she's free of schedules.

Yeji's already sound asleep in their shared rooms so Ryujin has no worries that Yeji might overlook where she hides her diary or her diary entry - besides, Ryujin is confident with her senses, if Yeji were to wake up and sneak up to her, she would know it before Yeji could get close enough.

Once she's done writing the diary entry of the day, Ryujin caps her black gel pen and places it into her pencil box, then sliding it into her school bag. She's having class the next day, and she wouldn't want to borrow a pen from the fan girls in her class (if Chaeryeong wants to prank her by not borrowing her a pen).

Ryujin flips through the pages, from the week before she debuts as a member of ITZY, to the day she debuts, then the day ITZY got their first place - till tonight, when she wrote the diary half an hour ago. All of it, is full of Yuna, and it's all about Yuna.

Ryujin's lips curve upwards for a little on the thought of the youngest girl in the group - the moment she and Yuna rest back to back after their whole day dance practice; the moment before they went on their debut stage, Yuna held her hand, telling her she's nervous too; the moment they'd won their first first place, Yuna had gently slapped her butt (though she doesn't really remember why she had written it down in her diary), comforting her while she cried (and efficiently hiding her blush after Yuna gently slapped her by covering her face with her hands); tonight - there isn't anything significant between her and Yuna, just the fact that Yuna had cooked some scrambled eggs for dinner, and Ryujin cooked some anchovy-brothed noodles for them both, since Yeji, Lia and Chaeryeong were having some schedules. 

Scrambled eggs and noodles - quite a strange combination, but to Ryujin, it felt perfect.

Ryujin had been a little anxious over her dance practice, even stressing herself, so she feels that she needs to release her stress by watching movies tonight.

The silence in the living room indicates that her dorm mates had slept, thus Ryujin turns on the TV, and watches the movie "Perks of Being a Wallflower".

As usual, she'd prepared some ice cubes beforehand for her to crunch on for some unexpected movie night - and tonight is the night.

The movie goes on, and even though Ryujin can remember every details of the movie, she still could cry herself out, releasing her stress. The night's perfect for crying - no one sees your weakness, as Ryujin prefers not to let the others to see her crying.

She crunches the ice cubes as silently as she can, hoping that the little noise that she and the TV are giving out isn't enough to wake her dorm mates.

And it's not until she wipes some tears off her cheek, with her chest's inner burden lifted, she notices a slight sinking from her left side of the sofa.

She turns, widening her eyes as she sees the maknae, Yuna.

Ryujin quickly turns her head back to the TV, not wanting to let Yuna see her puffy eyes. "It's late," Ryujin stated, not averting her gaze from the movie.

"I know," Yuna answers softly.

There's a moment of silence before Ryujin speaks again, "You're having school tomorrow. Go to bed."

"You have, too."

Ryujin sighs. "I can't sleep."

"I have the same reason as you do," the maknae answers. "I'm worried about our next comeback. I'm worried I'm not doing good enough for our fans."

"You're great," Ryujin sniffles, comforting Yuna, although she needs the same. But she's older than Yuna, she needs to be the one who Yuna can rely on. "You're doing well."

"You're stressed, unnie. I am. Our lives as idols and students - it brings stress, unnie, and it's okay to cry it out in front of me, although you're older than me. But everyone needs someone to rely on, even you, Ryujin."

It feels _strange_ , for Ryujin. Usually after she cried when she watched the movie she'll feel better and has hopes for the next day, week or month, but it only requires Yuna one sentence to let her break her own wall.

So she cries, again, and this time it feels _enough_ , and satisfying. 

Yuna's patting her head, slowly but steadily, combing her mid-length hair as she whispers some comforting words by Ryujin's ears to calm the older girl.

After Ryujin calms down, maybe it's because of her crush on Yuna, Ryujin feels that her ears are extra-sensitive with Yuna speaking beside them. She could feel Yuna's breath gently brushing over her ear, sending little shivers down her spine.

Ryujin tries her best to minimize the shivers, hoping that Yuna won't notice it.

"Ryujin unnie?" Yuna calls out.

Ryujin hums, feeling Yuna leaning her head on her shoulder.

"Can I ask you why do you like the nights?"

Ryujin keeps the silence around them for a moment before she replies with a sigh, "Maybe it's because the night's the only time I can expose my weakness."

"And I've just saw your tears. Does that make me special to you?" Yuna says, her tone getting sleepier as she speaks.

Ryujin doesn't answer. Her heart is beating erratically, debating whether to tell the truth or not.

And only when she hears the peaceful and steady breaths of the maknae, indicating that the red-headed girl has fallen asleep, Ryujin replies with a barely audible voice.

"Yeah, you're special to me, Yuna."

With that, she falls asleep on top of Yuna's head, the movie's ending still playing on the TV.

Let's not talk about how amusing the other three members are when they saw the Shin's sleeping on the sofa, cuddling together on the next morning.


	3. Three - Star

One of the reasons why Ryujin loves the night, is because of the stars.

Stars are emitting their brightness from galaxies far, far away, and when their brightness reaches to our naked eyes, it may be a million, or billions of years later.

Sometimes, when Ryujin looks up to the sky, she feels that she's turning back time, looking at the stars that are emitting light probably from millions of years ago.

The stars are also sparkling tonight.

ITZY are out eating dinner, and in the mean time waiting for their orders, Lia proposes for a Secret Santa game just between the five of them.

This is the second time for them to play Secret Santa, and Ryujin secretly hopes that she could get Yuna, so she could treat her a lot of things, offering help to Yuna.

They scribble their name into some waste paper their manager has at the moment, and pass them to their manager.

As their manager unnie puts the folded papers with their names in them on the table, Ryujin prepares herself when Yeji counts down.

"Three, two, one—"

Five hands shoot out to get their chosen ones, and Ryujin's hands trembles a little as she opens her paper.

—Yuna.

Ryujin's heart calms down at the sight of Yuna's handwriting, and she carefully folds it up and slides it into her pocket.

"Everyone done?" Yeji asks, her eyes skimming towards her members. "This game lasts for a week, since next Wednesday is Christmas. On the thought of it, do you guys want to decorate the Christmas tree this year, too?"

"Of course!" Yuna and Chaeryeong agreed with a wide grin. 

"Ryujin's gonna make cookies for us again!" Yuna points out, stating this is going to be ITZY's tradition for every Christmas. "And I'm gonna help you!"

Ryujin smiles, "Sure. Let's do it together."

Yuna squeals happily and the unnies are looking at her amusingly.

The maknae's the cutest. And there's no doubt of it.

Their orders comes, and everyone digs in after their dance practice with JYP himself. He's very meticulous, catching onto every details of ITZY's dance moves, correcting them, in attempt for them to be a better ITZY.

Ryujin's thankful that she'd entered JYPE, that this is where she could improve herself, and this is where she met Yuna.

"Does the Secret Santa starts like, right now?" Ryujin asks, eating a spoonful of tteokbokki.

Yeji nods, "Yeah, sure. And if one of y'all keeps treating me well I'm gonna expose you."

"Oh, so you mean we should treat you badly?" Lia teases.

"That's not what I meant!" Yeji squints, looking more like a cat now.

Yuna giggles, and Chaeryeong says, "My, my, look at Yejisu."

"Oh, don't you start!" Yeji grumbles. "Who's my secret Santa? Please save me I'm dying because of my members."

"Your secret santa's one of us too," Ryujin adds casually.

"Why did JYP actually make me the leader? And how did I bear with you guys so long? I really have no idea."

"Lia unnie's here for you~" Yuna jokes, and Lia slaps her playfully.

"Guys, eat your dinner and shut up," Yeji rolls her eyes. "Manager unnie, can't you hold them for a little while? I'm tired."

The manager shrugs and the others burst into laughter.

Ryujin looks at Yuna when she's laughing along with others, and notices Yuna's eyes sparkles like the stars. She'd personally love the stars, and this adds more reason for her to love the stars more.

"Wow! The stars are especially bright tonight! Can we go further out from the city to have a look on them? Please, manager unnie?" Chaeryeong asks, aegyo coming out naturally from her.

It only takes Chaeryeong plus Yuna five minutes before their manager sighs and agrees.

On the way to a wide, open field just outside Seoul, they're singing along to their next comeback song cheerfully, happy for their unexpected short travel out of the busy city.

"We're here!"

They get down from their car, with Yuna and Ryujin falling behind of the group.

"I'll be here waiting, remind them to come back after half an hour," the manager says to Ryujin, and she nods.

"Okay."

Ryujin quietly follows the red-headed maknae into the open field, looking at Yuna when she look upwards with her mouth slightly agape.

"Uwah~it's really beautiful when you see it outside the city! Don't you think, Ryujin unnie?" Yuna exclaims.

Ryujin grins, "It is."

She follows Yuna, looking up towards the sky, the stars forming some patterns and yet Ryujin couldn't name them.

Instinctively, Ryujin glances to Yuna, and gets attracted by her eyes.

Yuna's eyes reflects the sparkling, blinking stars. 

As the stars sparkle, her eyes sparkles with sudden little bright and then dims again.

"Hey, Ryujin, Yuna! Come over here! We're trying to name a pattern that looks like ITZY!" Yeji calls out not far from them.

Yuna turns her head to Yeji, then turns back to look at Ryujin, "Let's go, unnie."

Ryujin hasn't replied anything when the maknae holds her hand and both of them jogs towards the other three.

Holding hands. Again.

It should be normal between the members holding hands. But whenever Yuna does that to her, Ryujin couldn't help but blush a little.

Thanks to the night, her blush isn't visible to Yuna, or the others, and Ryujin wouldn't want them to find out about her feelings to Yuna. Not now.

"Look! That one looks like an I, the one a little higher up looks like T, the one lower is a Z, and the further on the right side is a Y. ITZY! We're on the universe!" Lia exclaims happily.

They all agree to the new name given to the pattern of stars they saw tonight, and tries to capture the pattern in their smartphones.

Ryujin may or may not have accidentally taken a photo of Yuna staring at the stars again, with her mouth agape.

The scene isn't silly with her mouth slightly opened, but it brings peacefulness to Ryujin as she takes the photo.

Oh, and Ryujin can also see Yuna's sparkling eyes from the photo itself.

_Yuna-yah, you're my sun and star._


	4. Four – Snow

One of the reasons why Ryujin loves the winter, is because of the presence of snow.

Snow makes everything look whiter, purer, and more angelic. White snow can literally decorate _anything_ , and makes it look more beautiful.

So, Ryujin loves the snow, too.

"Uwah~it's snowing outside!"

Yuna exclaims when she looks out of the window in their living room.

Ryujin is currently reading a book which Yeji lends her, saying that it makes her to love books, and so she recommends it to Ryujin.

Ryujin looks up from her book, and being greeted with a happy maknae opening the window and outstretching her hand to capture some snow flakes.

"Yuna-yah, let's go out for a walk," Ryujin says while standing up and approaching her without much thinking. She naturally reaches out her hand to pull Yuna's hand back indoor. "You're going to make the whole dorm cold. You're gonna catch a cold, too, if you don't wear more clothing before playing with the snow in winter."

"Go out? Go where?" Yuna's eyes light up.

"Hmm...how about the Han river? We can cycle there, it's not very far," Ryujin suggests.

Yuna nods with a grin, "Yeah, let's go!"

This time Ryujin makes sure both of them have remembered their gloves, and she brings extra hot packs just in case that the wind is too cold for them both.

"Ryujin unnie, let's see who gets to the Han river first!"

Ryujin snaps back to reality, and cycles faster as Yuna challenges her. 

"You may have longer legs than me, but you aren't going to reach there before me!" Ryujin boosts her energy in her legs, cycling faster to catch up with the red-haired girl.

Yuna laughs heartily when both of them reach their destination at the approximate same time, then hops down from her bicycle and pushes her bike slowly while wandering around the Hangang park.

Ryujin pants a little from her vigorous exercise and cleans her hair from the white snow that falls on it when they were cycling.

She sees Yuna's red hair is being covered by snow, some white within the crimson-red makes Yuna's hair looks more beautiful.

And sure, it makes Yuna look more beautiful.

Ryujin pushes her bicycle with her right hand, her left reaching out to clean some of the snow away from Yuna's hair.

Yuna feels Ryujin's hand slightly brushing through her hair, then turns and look at Ryujin who's tiptoeing a little to reach Yuna's height.

Ryujin stares into Yuna's eyes, and smiles a little. She doesn't want to look away from Yuna's eyes, they are so beautiful, and rich in emotions.

Emotions that are pure; that makes Ryujin wants to protect the maknae more; that makes Ryujin's love for Yuna growing stronger.

Ryujin looks away from her, then continues to walk side by side with Yuna.

The snows are still falling elegantly from the sky, with Yuna occasionally reaching out her hand to catch some of them.

Ryujin smiles when Yuna catches the snow flakes, her ears taking in the slight rumbling noises from the Han river not far from them, and leads their way to a bench just beside the Han river for some rest.

"Unnie, how do I catch the snow so that it wouldn't turn into water?"

As both sits down on the snowy bench, which Ryujin has cleaned some space for them to sit down, Yuna asks while showing Ryujin her palms that are wet.

Ryujin stretches her hand out, letting the snow to fall on her palm. "Don't catch on it too tight, it'll turn into water because of our body heat. Just like some things, we can't hold on to them too tight, because sometimes, we lose them because we held on too tight."

"But surely if you let them fall on your palm, they'll turn into water, too?" Yuna leans closer to Ryujin.

"Yeah...they're meant to melt in our palms, our body temperature is too high for them. But at least it stays longer than you catch it and enclose it into a fist."

"You seem to know a lot about snow."

Ryujin could smell Yuna's scent as Yuna leans onto her, looking at the snow flakes in her palms slowly melting into water.

The snow falls onto them both, on their hair and coats. 

"I love the snow. I love how it decorates everything to be whitish, and beautiful," Ryujin says, wearing her own gloves. "You should wear your gloves, too. Or else you'll be cold."

Yuna wears her gloves obediently, then asks again, "Do I look beautiful with the snow, then?"

Ryujin is taken aback from her sudden question, so she leans onto the bench, trying to look casual. 

The way Yuna is staring at her...she can't take it. 

"Plus the scenery, yeah. You look beautiful," Ryujin answers, looking at the Han river.

"Unnie~I meant me and the snow only, without the Han river~"

Oh god, the maknae's aegyo attack is here.

Ryujin gets embarrassed whenever Yuna becomes all cute, and she's currently covering her face with her own hands. "Oh no, I can't look at you right now."

"Wae~" Yuna shakes Ryujin's arm, "If you're not answering me I might as well peck you on your cheek."

Ryujin puts down her hand and chokes by her own saliva, "W-what? Are you kidding me?"

"Nope, I'm serious here."

Ryujin stares at Yuna: her red hair is being covered by the snow again; her shoulders with some snow flakes; some lands on Yuna's face but she doesn't bother to clean it.

Ryujin reaches her hand out and brushes the snow away from Yuna's cheek.

"You're already pretty without the snow. You look prettier with the snow."

Ryujin says, then blushing a little from what she said.

"Ryujin unnie, are you blushing?" Yuna giggles from Ryujin's answer.

"Nope."

"Unnie, are you my secret Santa? You brought me out for a walk today," Yuna leans onto the bench, her legs swinging back and forth happily.

Ryujin chuckles, "Yuna-yah, whether or not I'm your secret Santa, I'll treat you well no matter what."

Yuna hums.

Ryujin takes out her film camera.

"A photo for today?" She asks Yuna.

Yuna nods with a wide grin, successfully making Ryujin's heart to skip a beat even though she's looking through the lens of her camera.

"One, two, three—"

With the snow, Yuna looks a hundred times prettier, even though she's already beautiful in the first place at such a young age.

Yuna may be the newest reason as to why Ryujin loves the snow.


	5. Five – Moon

Ryujin mentions she loves the night and stars, right?

She also loves the moon, too.

She loves every phase the moon is in, but particularly she loves the crescent moon.

Why? She doesn't really know, but she only knows Yuna's eyes look like the crescent moon when she smiles.

Ryujin places a pint of mint chocolate ice cream into the freezer, before putting on a thoughtful expression.

The secret Santa game is going to end in three days, and Ryujin never places a small note whenever she gives something that Yuna likes to eat or drink on her table.

She glances at her own pencil box on the dining table, then taking out a sticky note and her pen.

_Yuna, there's your favourite mint chocolate ice cream in the freezer. I hope you'll enjoy it while doing your homework!_

Ryujin purposely writes in a messy handwriting, in hope that Yuna won't notice that her Secret Santa is her.

She sticks the note onto Yuna's desk in her and Lia's shared room, then walks in to her room to change into outing clothes.

Yuna is coming home soon, as she's called Ryujin who had her class ended earlier today. They're planning to go out for a shopping for their present-exchanging event on the Christmas Day, whilst Yeji and Lia will join them later because both of them have a schedule for today, and will only be free after six.

"Ryujin-ah! We're back! Manager unnie asks us to be prepared in ten minutes and we'll be going out!" Chaeryeong shouts as Ryujin changes her clothes.

"Alright! I'll be outside soon!" Ryujin replies.

Speaking of the secret Santa, Ryujin wonders who's her secret Santa. That person always leaves some favourite food of hers on her school desk, on the dining table, and on her desk in her room. She never receives any notes from her secret Santa, so she doesn't really have a clue as to who's her secret Santa.

Shrugging, Ryujin puts on a black Supreme cap and exits her own room, just in time to see a shade of red long hair disappearing into the next room.

Ryujin walks to the living room and joins Chaeryeong who's already done changing into outing clothes, and both stands there, waiting for Yuna.

"Chaeryeongie, do you know who's your secret Santa yet?" Ryujin asks in the mean time waiting.

Chaeryeong glances up from her phone, "I have some clue, how 'bout you?"

Ryujin shakes her head defeatedly, "I have no clue about it yet, but I do know who's Lia unnie's secret Santa."

Chaeryeong laughs, "I think it's pretty obvious that it's her."

"I'm here! Let's go!" Yuna says with a wide smile. "Did I miss something?"

"Nah, just something about Lia unnie's secret Santa," Chaeryeong answers, leading the way to their awaiting manager in the car.

Yuna hums, "I think I know who's that too. Also, I think I know who's my secret Santa already."

Ryujin's heart thumps hard and loud, and hopefully that Chaeryeong asking Yuna some other questions is loud enough to be inaudible.

"Yuna-yah, don't guess it wrong like last year!" Chaeryeong jokes.

"Nooooo~I'm sure of it this time!" Yuna whines.

"Omo!"

"Omo!"

Both Ryujin and Chaeryeong melts when Yuna whines, and it's not helping Ryujin as she's also blushing at the same time.

Really, who could stand Yuna's aegyo? No one!

The car ride is cheerful and full of chatters, and they reach the mall before they realise it.

"I'll be in the BBQ restaurant next to the grocery shop, just don't go too far and avoid being spotted by your fans! I hope you'll have a good time shopping! And come to the BBQ restaurant to have a dinner with Yeji and Lia later," says their manager.

The Hanlim trio nods and gets off the car, then Chaeryeong asks, "Do you prefer shopping on your own? That'll be better if you wanna buy something for the one you care for in the game."

"Are you going alone, Chaeryeong?" Ryujin asks.

Chaeryeong nods, "I find it better this way."

"But I want Ryujin and you to shop with me~" Yuna says.

 _The aegyo is here again. Goodbye my heart._ Ryujin feels butterflies in her stomach, making her fluttered.

"How about this? Ryujin-ah you go with Yuna, I'll shop by myself, and if one of you saw something that you wanted to buy is too obvious for the other person to know who's under your care, just ask her to stand outside the shop and you buy it and meet her outside," Chaeryeong suggests.

Ryujin glances at Yuna, who's nods happily and agrees. As long as Yuna agrees, Ryujin agrees, too.

They part ways when Chaeryeong goes into a vintage shop, while Ryujin and Yuna go on to the other shops.

They walk in comfortable silence, before Yuna points at a gift shop and urges Ryujin to go in there with her.

"So cute~" Yuna lifts a snow globe up, inverting it and observes the artificial snows that lands gracefully on two miniature girls, one wearing a dark blue jacket and the other wearing a black jacket with one white stripe on both the sleeves. There's a Christmas tree beside them, and the one in dark blue down feather jacket was stretching her hand out, seemingly like catching the snowflakes.

Ryujin smiles and looks at Yuna, who notices her and grins back, her eyes curve as she smiles, just like the crescent moon.

Yuna's eyes really look like the crescent moon.

"Do you like it?" Ryujin asks, picking another one up but with a miniature town in the snow globe.

Yuna nods, "But I know someone would like this even more than me. I'm buying this for that person!"

Ryujin gulps down her question of who's under Yuna's care as Yuna skips a little on her way to the counter.

She follows Yuna to the counter, who's in the middle of choosing a gift wrapper.

"Unnie, wait for me outside, or else you're gonna know I'm who's secret Santa," Yuna says, adding a wink that makes Ryujin's heart beats faster.

Ryujin tries hard to maintain her cool image by nodding and retreating to the outside, when in actual fact her cheek is warming up.

She waits for Yuna to come out of the gift shop with a white paper bag, then points at another vintage shop just across the street.

"Let's go in there," she says, leading the way to the shop.

"What's in here...oh!" Yuna squeals, picking up a silver colored hunter-cased pocket watch with a symbol of a seashell in front of the case. With a press on the crown, the case spring opens, revealing a watch face printed with the Ariel from the Little Mermaid.

Ryujin glances at the pocket watch and realizes that's the perfect Christmas present for Yuna, who's known for her iconic red hair that makes her look like Ariel.

Ryujin pretends to walk around the vintage shop and looks at certain necklaces and bracelets, until Yuna asks, "Unnie, are you buying anything in here?"

"I am," Ryujin picks up two identical bracelets made of bronze, with a small squarish metal plate with an 'R' and another with 'Y' carved on them. "Wait for me outside, I'll be out soon."

Yuna nods, and as soon as she disappears outside the shop, Ryujin considers of buying the bracelets and the pocket watch. Both are suitable as gifts but what if the identical bracelets are far too obvious that she has feelings for the maknae when the others saw the bracelets?

Ryujin furrows her brows, thinking hard.

In the end Ryujin bought both the bracelets and the pocket watch. They're packed into a box in dark blue colour, and then wrapped in a white gift wrapper with patterns of snowman printed on it.

Of course, Ryujin keeps the bracelet of the alphabet 'R' in her jeans pocket before going out of the shop to meet with Yuna.

"Done?" Yuna asks, smiling with her crescent-moon-like eyes.

"Done," Ryujin nods.

"Let's go meet with Chaeryeong unnie then, I just saw her walking into the gift shop we entered just now," Yuna says, holding Ryujin's hand (which makes Ryujin stuns for a while) and runs to the shop. "Quick! Before Chaeryeong saw us! I want to scare her from behind!"

Ryujin chuckles as she sees the prankster Yuna successfully scares Chaeryeong with a 'boo!', and Chaeryeong screams in a high pitch (luckily no one noticed they were ITZY), with Yuna laughing, her eyes always in the shape of the crescent moon, sparkling like the stars.

Ryujin smiles a little as she puts her hand into her pocket, feeling the cold bracelet against her skin, knowing that she's hopelessly in love with Shin Yuna.

_Yuna, who has her eyes that look like the crescent moon when she smiles, that sparkles like the stars._


	6. Six – Christmas

Ryujin loves Christmas.

Christmas is the main reason why she loves winter and snow, because both makes Christmas a day that is magical to everyone, and she'd always feel heartwarming on Christmas, especially when it is spent with her precious members.

And so Ryujin always look forward to Christmas every year, with the fact that she loves to spend the day with the maknae, Yuna.

"Yeddeong, did you saw who put this on my table?"

On Christmas Eve, Ryujin wakes up a little later than usual, and she finds Yeji already awake before her. As she gets down from her bed, rubbing her eyes, she sees the mocha bun and a glass of warm milk on her table.

"Hmm? No," Yeji sits comfortably beside Lia on the dining table when Ryujin comes out from her room, carrying the mocha bun and the glass of warm milk after freshening up.

"Where's Yuna and Chaeryeong?" Ryujin shrugs, taking a place opposite Yeji to eat her breakfast.

"They're taking the ornaments out from the store room," Lia answers, sipping her honey tea. "We're decorating our Christmas tree after our breakfast."

"Oh," Ryujin nods, eating her mocha bun in light speed since she _loves_ mocha bun. A lot. 

After drinking her warm milk, Ryujin stands up and says, "I'm helping Yuna and Chaeryeong in the living room," then washes her glass up and goes to the living room.

Sure enough, both girls are carrying the little pine tree Ryujin bought last year, and settling it beside the TV.

"Do you need help?" Ryujin asks when Yuna sits down on the sofa beside her, panting.

Yuna's eyes lit up, "Yes! Defintely!"

Ryujin chuckles at Yuna's antics, missing how Chaeryeong rolls her eyes at the two.

"I wanna put the star and none of you can take it away from me!" Yuna shouts for a bit, letting Yeji and Lia who are in the dining area to hear what she said.

"Yes, yes, take it," Chaeryeong fishes the yellow star from the bag of ornaments out, and tosses it to Yuna. Ryujin catches the star ornament for Yuna.

"Say, Chaeryeong, is there any string inside?" Ryujin comes up with a silly idea.

Chaeryeong raises her brows, "What for?" 

"You'll see," Ryujin says, grinning at Yuna for her own idea.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Yuna backs away from Ryujin who smiles a little devilishly.

As soon as Ryujin gets her string from Chaeryeong, she pounces on Yuna, who leans backwards on the three-person sofa, and with Ryujin on top of her, tying the star ornament on top of Yuna's head.

"AHHHHHH NOOOOO RYUJIN UNNIEEEEE—" Yuna struggles to take off the star ornament which is currently being tied by Ryujin on her head.

Once done, Ryujin laughs and says, "You said none of us can take the star away from you, I'm just helping you to secure it."

Yuna suddenly stops struggling and blushes, "U-unnie..."

Ryujin looks down and finds herself on top of Yuna, her lips barely grazing over the younger's lips. She can literally feel Yuna's breath on her lips, smelling rather like strawberry, but also it's like mint cool.

She blushes hard, pulling away from Yuna.

"S-sorry...I didn't know we were that close..." 

The charismatic Shin Ryujin blushes hard, her cool image no longer maintained in front of her members. She hangs her head low, not daring to look at Yuna who she nearly just kissed.

The silence continues for some minutes before Chaeryeong fakes a cough and clears her throat, "So...let's hang those ornaments onto the tree first, then we'll take a short rest, I guess?"

"Sure," Yeji comes over and picks a few ornaments for her and Lia, who then hangs them carefully onto the Christmas tree.

As Yuna stands up and joins the others, Ryujin sighs in relief, then looks up and sees Chaeryeong who smirks.

"You like Yuna, huh?" Chaeryeong asks in a low voice.

The question itself is enough to make the cool Shin Ryujin to blush again, "Not so loud, duh!"

"I think it's pretty obvious, you know? Yuna probably knows it too," Chaeryeong adds.

Ryujin glares at her fellow 01-liner and throws a red spherical ornament to Chaeryeong who backs away from her to dodge the attack. "Go and decorate the tree, Ryeongchae!"

Chaeryeong smirks again and glances at Yuna before getting away from Ryujin who leans onto the sofa and calms her fast-beating heart down.

_Oh no, does Yuna know about my feelings?_

Ryujin asks herself, and eventually lost in her own thoughts to determine whether she portrayed her feelings to Yuna in an obvious way before or not. Come to think of it, she's quite...reserved with her feelings, but how did Chaeryeong know about it?

Ryujin shakes her head, her hands covering up her face and groans.

"Unnie? Are you okay?"

Ryujin feels a hand lands on her head and combing through her hair gently, and Ryujin knows it's Yuna just by her voice.

Ryujin grunts, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are we still making cookies for tomorrow?" Yuna removes Ryujin's hands that are covering her face and looks intently onto Ryujin.

"Yeah. Why not?" Ryujin nods, "Anything in specific that you wanted to make for this year?"

"A gingerbread man for you, unnie!" Yuna exclaims, clapping her hands, "Ah...I mean...for the others, too."

Before Ryujin could react to Yuna's words, Yuna leaves in a dash, leaving Ryujin in her daze.

_A gingerbread man for me?_

Ryujin smiles like a lovesick girl.

On that night, they have their dinner with roasted turkey that their manager bought for them and some salads (Lia and Chaeryeong can't live without salads).

"So what are we going to do with our presents? Do we leave it under the tree and open it tomorrow morning? Or do we exchange it tomorrow?" After dinner, Yeji asks her members.

"I want to leave it under the tree, and tomorrow we write our answers down as in who's our secret Santa, and reveal it after we get our respective presents," Ryujin suggests.

Lia and Chaeryeong nods, "Sounds good."

"One thing," Yuna raises her hand. "Can I hang the stocking on my bed?"

"You have a stocking? Great! Let's see if there's any extra present for you tomorrow morning!" Chaeryeong says, then glancing at Ryujin.

Ryujin glares back for a second before averting her gaze. "We'll make biscuits and gingerbread man before we got our results tomorrow, okay?"

Yuna nods furiously with a wide sunny grin, "Okay!"

It's three am in the morning, and Ryujin makes sure everyone was asleep before she sneaks into Yuna's room.

Lia's snoring a little, but not too loud and Yuna's hugging her pillow tightly as she sleeps.

The red stocking is hung at the corner of Yuna's bed, and Ryujin hesitates when her fingers clutch onto the dark blue box she's holding.

_Put it in. Don't. Put it in. Or not?_

Ryujin's heart is beating fast, she's worried that one of the roommates might wake up suddenly, and she wants to do this as fast as she can.

The bronze bracelet with the metal plate carved with 'Y' is in the dark blue box and Ryujin wants to give it to Yuna. But it might be obvious once she wears her own bracelet, then it will be identical.

Ryujin grits her teeth and shuts her eyes, dropping the box into the stockings before leaving the room quickly but quietly.

And neither does she know, the moment she closes the door, a pair of eyes opens and her hand reached to the now-filled stocking, her lips curving upwards into a little smile.

The next morning Ryujin wakes with her alarm ringing beside her. 

She opens her eyes just in time to see Yeji coming into their room.

"Hey Yeddeong," Ryujin murmurs sleepily.

"Yo Ryuddaeng. What kept you up last night? You look tired," Yeji asks while placing a stack of clothes into Ryujin's closet.

Ryujin freezes for a while, then shakes her head. "Nothing. I'm off brushing my teeth and I'll prepare the ingredients to make the cookies."

Yeji nods, closing the closet door. "There's another mocha bun on the dining table this morning. And a cup of black coffee."

As both of them go out of their room, Yeji gestures to the mocha bun and the black coffee on the dining table. "Dunno who's your secret Santa but she's been taking care of your stomach well," she smirks.

"Yeah yeah I know. Just like how you've been trying to be all lovey dovey with Lia. When are you two going to be official?" Ryujin rolls her eyes.

Yeji smacks Ryujin on her shoulder, "I'm on it, and don't say it so loud!"

"You've been really obvious and I don't see the point as in why I can't be loud about it," Ryujin replies with a smirk.

Yeji rolls her eyes and groans at her roommate before leaving to help Lia with the decorative lights on the Christmas tree.

Ryujin laughs, approaching the dining table cheerfully. She picks up the mocha bun and tears off the packaging, then starts eating it fast.

She'd always love mocha bun, and everyone knows that.

Ryujin let's out a confused hum as she notices the sticky note on her cup—

_Merry Christmas! I know you like mocha bun a lot so I went out to the bakery this morning and bought it. It's fresh from the oven! I hope you like it!_

Ryujin feels her heart thumps hard against her chest. This handwriting, this tone...it can only be—

She glances up as a girl stands in front of her, grinning. "Mocha bun again, unnie?"

"Yeah..." Ryujin hastily keeps the note, "Have you eaten breakfast, Yuna?"

Yuna nods happily, "Quick unnie! I'm looking forward to the cookies!"

Ryujin glances at the dark blue box in Yuna's hand, "Oh, you really got a present from Santa?"

"Mmhmm. Possibly also from my secret Santa?" Yuna hums, looking at Ryujin with her sunny smile.

"That's great!" Ryujin replies, although her heart is beating crazily because she's the one who gave her the bracelet. "What's inside?"

As Ryujin asks, she finishes her black coffee fast and washes up so that they can prepare for the ingredients. 

"A bracelet with the metal plate carved with a Y. It's so pretty!" Yuna squeals.

Ryujin chuckles, her heart melting as she sees how happy Yuna is.

"We'll make chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread man, okay?" Ryujin asks when Yuna comes back to the kitchen after placing her present in her room.

"Sure!" Yuna takes the bowl of flour from Ryujin and gets some eggs from the fridge. They've worked together well to mix the ingredients for both the chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread man, similar to how they performed on stage.

When Yuna's mixing the ingredients for the gingerbread man, Ryujin preheats the oven and Chaeryeong comes to the kitchen to check them out.

"Hey, drink some orange juice, freshen yourself."

Ryujin gives a grateful smile to Chaeryeong, "Thanks Chae."

"No prob. Anyways, do you—" Chaeryeong lowers her voice, "—plan to confess to Yuna?"

Ryujin chokes on her orange juice, " _What_?"

Chaeryeong shrugs, "I mean, Christmas' a nice day to confess."

"I don't even know if we have mutual feelings!" Ryujin hisses in a low voice, glancing to the other end of the kitchen where Yuna is.

Ryujin doesn't even want Chaeryeong to say anything else, "Now shoo! I'm busy in here!"

Chaeryeong laughs as she leaves with Ryujin still choking on her orange juice.

_Right...so how does Yuna feel towards me?_

Ryujin asks herself. She approaches the younger girl who currently puts all her effort into kneading the dough for gingerbread man and notices the flours are staining Yuna's cheeks.

"Yuna-yah, the flour's on your cheeks already," Ryujin half-scolds. She wipes the flour away and furrows her brows. "Did you not sleep last night? You looked tired."

Yuna shakes her head, "I'm fine unnie, I just had a good dream." She smiles.

Ryujin hums, taking over the work to knead the dough, "About what?"

"Santa came into my room to put the present into my stocking," Yuna answers, looking at Ryujin intently.

_Ba-dump._

Ryujin's hands freezes for half a second, then proceeds back to their job. "I see." She pauses a little before saying, "This gingerbread man dough needs to be refrigerated for four hours. We'll bake it later. For now, we can bake the cookies already."

"Alright!" Yuna replies cheerfully. "About ten minutes will be enough, right?"

"Yeah," Ryujin nods. "After that we'll join the reveal of secret Santa when the cookies are done."

"Alright, let's get our presents!" Yeji announced, letting Yuna the maknae to get hers first.

Ryujin places the plate with baked chocolate chip cookies onto the small coffee table while glancing at Yuna occasionally.

Yuna skims through the five presents and spots the white snowman gift wrapper with her name written on it.

Chaeryeong then proceeds next to get her present with red gift wrapper with Christmas trees printed on it.

Next is Ryujin, who stands up from her seat and spots her name written on a whitish gift wrapper with cute cats printed. Her gift looks squarish and has a rectangular base, and she wonders what's inside.

Lia and Yeji get theirs after Ryujin, and the revealing of each person's secret Santa starts.

"So who wants to guess for the whole situation first?" Yeji asks, picking a cookie from the plate and biting on it.

Lia, Chaeryeong and Yuna shoot their hands into the air.

"Lia first."

Lia leans close to Yeji and whispers her answers to her. They'd written their own guess on their secret Santa on a paper and passed it to Yeji earlier in the morning, so Yeji is the only one who knows everything.

Yeji nods, then gesturing for Chaeryeong to approach.

Later when it's Yuna's turn, Ryujin couldn't help but recalls the note she received this morning. Is her secret Santa really is Yuna?

"Alright, so—" Yeji skims through her members, "This time, Lia and Yuna got it right, Chaeryeong got one wrong."

Lia and Yuna happily hugs each other while Chaeryeong looks a little sad.

"Now, revealing the secret Santa—" Yeji pauses a little, "Ryujin, who did you write in your answer?"

"E-eh?" Ryujin's taken aback from the sudden mention of her name. "Yuna."

Yeji looks at Yuna, who smiles fondly at Ryujin. "Unnie you only know it was me this morning, right?"

"Yeah...that note is obvious," Ryujin grins a little, happy that Yuna's her secret Santa _and_ she's Yuna's secret Santa at the same time.

The revealing goes on, where Yeji's Lia's secret Santa (as expected), Lia's Chaeryeong's secret Santa and Chaeryeong's Yeji's secret Santa.

"And that means... _oohhhhh_ —" Chaeryeong widens her eyes dramatically at Ryujin, "Ryujin is Yuna's secret Santa!"

"The two Shin's taking care of each other, how sweet~" Lia says, nudging at Ryujin who's sitting beside her.

"Ohhhhh—" Yeji adds her ooh and looks at both Ryujin and Yuna amusingly.

"Yah! What's wrong with it?" Ryujin asks while rolling her eyes, where in reality she's sweating on her palms.

Yuna's smiling but it looks like she feels awkward on how her unnies' way of addressing her and Ryujin together in _some_ way. She's currently trying to hide herself behind Ryujin's smaller body frame.

"So when can we have our gingerbread man? The chocolate chip cookies taste good, anyways," Chaeryeong's trying to suppress her good laugh to the two.

Ryujin glances at the blushing maknae and then glares at Chaeryeong, Yeji and Lia.

"Never!"

Ryujin still bakes the gingerbread man for the three who makes fun of her and Yuna. After the four hours of refrigeration, she slides the tray with gingerbread-man-shaped doughs into the oven.

It is after the 'ding' that reminds her of their debut song "Dalla Dalla" when Yuna enters the kitchen again.

"Here for decorating the gingerbread man?" Ryujin asks as she carefully lifts the tray out of the oven wearing the oven gloves.

"Yeah," Yuna admits, her eyes shining with excitement. "I'm decorating one for you, unnie."

This little request from Yuna automatically makes Ryujin smile. "Sure, I'm looking forward to it."

"I'm taking one from the tray—" 

There comes a painful yelp from the maknae when Ryujin turns her back away from the maknae to hang the gloves onto the wall. Ryujin quickly turns and approaches the younger girl with a panicked expression visible on her face.

Snatching Yuna's right hand a little sudden, Ryujin frowns at the sight of the now-reddish skin of Yuna's index finger. 

Instinctively, Ryujin puts Yuna's finger into her mouth and gently sucks on the slender finger, her tongue gently licking it. She acts just like how her mum would do to her if she accidentally burnt her hand with hot objects.

Ryujin doesn't notice how the maknae blushes hard until Yuna calls her.

"R-ryujin unnie..."

Ryujin looks up and sees how red Yuna's face is. She almost freaks out and quickly takes Yuna's finger out of her mouth and backs away.

"I-I'm really sorry I—"

Yuna's index finger is now placed against Ryujin's lips. Still blushing, Yuna smiles a little, "Unnie you haven't seen your present right?"

Ryujin nods a little, having the little courage to look at Yuna after what she instinctively did.

"After the decoration on the gingerbread man, take a look at it, okay?" Yuna says, lifting her finger away from Ryujin's lips. "By the way, my finger feels better, unnie. Thank you and don't apologize."

Yuna winks, making Ryujin to blush. "Okay, sure."

Ryujin decorates the gingerbread men with a confused feeling in her heart. What does Yuna mean by "taking a look on her present"? Will it really give her an answer?

When Ryujin is done with the decoration, she glances at Yuna who speaks, "A little while more, Ryujin unnie. I'll give it to you later. In the mean time unnie, take a look on your present." Yuna urges.

Ryujin nods, "I'll be in my room."

After placing the gingerbread man onto the coffee table in the living room for Yeji, Lia and Chaeryeong to enjoy, Ryujin excuses herself into her room.

She quietly closes the door behind her and her gaze naturally lands on the present that is left on her table.

When Ryujin reaches her hand out to open the gift wrapper, she'd thought she would have trembling hands. In fact, she doesn't, although she is nervous about what's waiting her inside.

The first thing that comes into Ryujin's sight is a white box with a transparent plastic on the front, showing off the snow globe inside. She takes out the snow globe from the box and a thought flashes through her mind.

Of course. Of course it's the snow globe. Why didn't she notice it when Yuna says that "someone under her care" will like this snow globe?

She inverts the snow globe and watches the snow falls onto the two miniature girls beside the Christmas tree. As she looks intently onto the two girls, she finally realizes that their outfit looks like what she and Yuna normally wears. (A/N: kindly refer to the previous chapter, I've mentioned it there before if you have forgotten).

She then sets the snow globe on her desk, then lifting up the only present left.

A light blue diary with a shadow of cat carved on the front of the diary, similar to the one she's using for the year that's ending soon.

As Ryujin opens the diary, a letter drops out of it, and she raises her brows.

She unfolds the folded letter and starts to read it.

_To my favourite unnie, Ryujin <3_

_Hello! This is your secret Santa of the year, Shin Yuna!! I hope you liked your present :P_

_On the thought of it, are you curious on why I bought you a diary?_

Ryujin straightens herself up as she becomes alarmed. Could it be—?

_That's right, I don't know if you're going to be mad at me or not, but I accidentally saw your diary when I was cleaning your room a few months ago. It kinda dropped when I accidentally hit your desk and it dropped from the back of the desk._

_...So yeah, I saw it all...about your feelings towards me._

_To be honest, I've thought about it a lot, and I think I don't mind to be together with you._

_(On the thought of I saw your diary, you probably won't forgive me. That is.)_

_I figured I wanted to be honest with you, because the feeling is mutual._

_So...look back right now and you'd probably see me behind you._

_:)_

_From Yuna <3_

Ryujin literally chants _Oh no Oh No Oh NO OH NO_ as she finishes the letter, not daring to look behind her. Her ears are burning from embarassement and she can visualize herself as red as a tomato. 

Ryujin's heart almost stops when someone back hugs her. And from the familiar scent, she knows it's Yuna.

"I'm sorry unnie, I really didn't mean to—"

As if worries that Ryujin might really be mad, the maknae apologizes verbally when Ryujin stops her.

Ryujin stops her by kissing her on the lips gently, which is enough to let both girls blush and their heart rate increasing.

This might be the only time Ryujin is brave enough to kiss Yuna without asking if she wants to be her girlfriend first.

"Yuna-yah," Once Ryujin pulls back a little, her arms naturally wraps around the younger girl, she looks intently into Yuna's eyes.

 **"I love you."** Ryujin pauses a little, "Will you be my girlfriend?" 

Being able to confess her love to Shin Yuna, the brightest sun, Ryujin feels butterflies in her stomach, and she feels relieved that both have mutual feelings for each other.

Yuna does not hesitate to answer her, "I do. And I love you too."

Yuna slides the gingerbread man packaged into a plastic bag into Ryujin's hands, and Ryujin closes the distance between their lips for a chaste kiss.

Ryujin and Yuna walk out of Ryujin's room hand in hand, making Chaeryeong smirk.

"Oh finally the Shin's are officially together already, eh?"

Ryujin coughs a little, "Yejisu's not official yet."

"We'll take our time," Lia pillows her head onto Yeji's arm resting on the sofa.

Yeji blushes.

Ryujin suppresses a laugh and sits down beside Yuna on a two seated sofa.

She opens the packaging of the gingerbread man and notices it has some whiskers drawn on it.

"You look like this when you smile," Yuna blushes a little as she speaks.

Ryujin chuckles lowly and turns the gingerbread man over, where there is a small line of "saranghaeyo" written.

"Did you just liked me after seeing my feelings written down in my diary, or it started way before?" Ryujin asks curiously.

Yuna glances at the other three persons in the living room watching TV and shrinks into her seat, blushing.

With a glance from Ryujin to the three members, Chaeryeong mumbles something like watching drama in her room, and Yeji and Lia retreat to Lia's room.

Looking back at Yuna, Ryujin raises her brows.

"It started when I first saw you in my first practice in JYPE, but I was younger that time and I didn't know that I have a crush on you. I fangirled over your performances in MIXNINE, and it was later during the announcement of me added into ITZY, in JYP's office, we were standing side by side - that was when I know I have a different feeling for you."

Yuna nuzzles close to Ryujin and Ryujin wraps her arms around the maknae.

"And you already know when I started to have a crush on you," Ryujin says, placing her chin on top of Yuna's head.

The younger nods.

"It's good to know that we love each other after a long time struggle with myself," Ryujin sighs but smiles a little.

"And it's a good day to confess on Christmas."

Yuna gets up a little, pecking Ryujin on the lips and smiles.

"This adds more reasons to love Christmas," Ryujin says, holding Yuna closer. Yuna lays comfortably in Ryujin's embrace and hums.

_Winter._

There are six things that Ryujin loves.

_Night._

She takes six steps further.

_Star._

One step.

_Snow._

Two steps.

_Moon._

...Six steps.

_Christmas._

She confesses as Yuna does, and there they start a new relationship between them both.

And there's the seventh thing that Ryujin loves, and it tops the list.

_Shin Yuna._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Wow this is the longest chapter I've written in my whole life xD
> 
> So the story ends here :) I really hope you guys enjoyed it because I enjoyed writing every chapter of this fanfic :) remember to upvote this story if you enjoyed reading it and likes it! Please leave comments, I would really love to know your thoughts!


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